In their natural environment bacteria develop by forming communities of micro-organisms called biofilms that afford them greater resistance.These biofilms on farms and premises where food is processed lead to considerable economic losses besides being a potential source of contamination and...
Over the last half decade, it has become increasingly clear that the normal gastrointestinal (GI) bacteria play a variety of very important roles in the biology of human and animals. Now Vic Norris of the University of Rouen, France, and coauthors propose yet another role for GI bacteria: that...
Like a homeowner prepping for a hurricane, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis uses a long checklist to prepare for survival in hard times. In a new study, scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston uncovered an elaborate mechanism that allows B. subtilis to begin preparing for...
This protection is provided by a human protein, Elafin, which is artificially introduced into dairy produce bacteria (Lactococcus lacti and Lactobacillus casei). In time, this discovery could be useful for individuals suffering from chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease or...
The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series reports that scientists have discovered a plausible way to manipulate the populations of mostly beneficial microbes in "purified" drinking water to potentially benefit...
Move forward. High-five your neighbor. Turn around. Repeat. That's the winning formula of one of the world's smallest predators, the soil bacteria Myxococcus xanthus, and a new study by scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical...
The British Dental Health Foundation believes new scientific research presented is a further indication of a possible link between pancreatic cancer and gum disease. The latest research, presented in the journal Gut, found one of the bacterium key in the development of gum disease was associated...
Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal and difficult to detect early. In a new study, researchers report that people who had high levels of antibodies for an infectious oral bacterium turned out to have double the risk for developing the cancer. High antibody levels for harmless oral bacteria...
Aimee Copeland, the young woman who survived a vicious case of flesh-eating bacteria she*contracted earlier this year, was on Katie Couric's new talk show, and her positive, inspiring interview melted our hearts. Watch it and cry, like we did. More »Post from: Blisstree
You may think you have dinner all to yourself, but you're actually sharing it with a vast community of microbes waiting within your digestive tract. A new study from a team including Carnegie's Steve Farber and Juliana Carten reveals that some gut microbes increase the absorption of dietary...
Scientists working on a huge project that has mapped all the different microbes that live in and on a healthy human body have made a number of remarkable discoveries, including the fact that harmful bacteria can live in healthy bodies and co-exist with their host and other microbes without...
There's new hope for development of an antibiotic that can put down a lethal bacteria or superbug linked to the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients around the world. Researchers from the University of Alberta-based Alberta Glycomics Centre found a chink in the molecular armour of the...
From tiny villages in developing nations to suburban kitchens in the United States, dangerous strains of E. coli bacteria sicken millions of people each year - and kill untold numbers of children. Now, new research from the University of Michigan Health System gives scientists a better...
If you are due for an ultrasound, make sure the gel being used is not contaminated by bacteria. The FDA just instructed U.S. Marshals to raid a New Jersey plant that produces ultrasound transmission gel after they found it contained a dangerous bacteria. More »Post from: Blisstree | Nutrition...
To the ranks of horses, donkeys, camels and other animals that have served humanity as pack animals or beasts of burden, scientists are now enlisting bacteria to ferry nano-medicine cargos throughout the human body. They reported on progress in developing these "backpacking" bacteria - so small...
Scientists looking for ways to get minute doses of drugs, so-called "nano-medicines", into the right places in the human body have turned to "backpacking" bacteria to ferry the cargo. This week, at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in San Diego, Dr...
Scientists are reporting identification of two substances in licorice - used extensively in Chinese traditional medicine - that kill the major bacteria responsible for tooth decay and gum disease, the leading causes of tooth loss in children and adults. In a study in ACS' Journal of Natural...
New methods speed up the process of identifying the subgroup of E. coli bacteria responsible for an outbreak of illness. Swift identification may spare lives. In recent years, there have been several serious outbreaks of E. coli in Norway, causing grave illness and even death for some of the...
Bacteria and fungi are remarkably mobile. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered that the two organisms enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship to aid them in that movement - and their survival. Fungal spores can attach themselves to bacteria, "hitching a ride" wherever the...